The Empirical Study Of A Tourism-led Developing Strategy Of Zhangjiajie City

Zhangjiajie City was established and flourished by virtue of its tourism resources. Tourism, spearheading the high-speed local social and economic development, was designated as the core industry by CCP Zhangjiajie Committee and the City Government in 1999. Escorted by agricultural adjustment, industrial upgrading and commercial and trade streamlining, tourism serves to fuel local economic growth and contribute to the cultural property and the building of the city, and in turn the all-around social and economic development of the locality. This tourism-led developing strategy, questioned by some people, calls for full recognition of role of tourism (usually underestimated) in local development, actually lacks in-depth research and discussion in the circle. In hope to fully explore on the functioning of tourism in both theory and practice, based on the industrial characters of tourism, the current situation of tourism within China and without, a historical review of the development of tourism and the formulation of the local industrial development strategy of Zhangjiajie City in three different phases, this paper discusses the impact of tourism industry in local economy and the way Zhangjiajie tourism may take to lead local development.